States were congratulating themselves yesterday after rosy results on international visitation from Tourism Research Australia for the 12 months ended March 2015.

New South Wales pointed out it had once again been named number one destination in Australia, with a record 3.3 million international visitors. Queensland noted that international visitors spent a record AUD 4.4 billion in Queensland in the period.

International visitors to Australia spent a record AUD 32.5 billion in the year ending March 2015 – 10% or AUD 2.9 billion more than the previous year. There was also strong growth of 8% in the number of visitors aged 15 years and over and 7% for nights spent in Australia.

Across Australia’s top five markets, China continues to lead growth. China’s trip spend increased by 25% to AUD 6.4 billion. China now accounts for 20% of all trip spend by international visitors to Australia – up from 7% ten years ago

Visitor numbers and nights from China have also increased significantly, both up 19% to 829,000 and 36 million nights respectively. Visitor numbers and spend were also up for most other key markets:

USA – visitors up 10% to 535,000 and spend up 14% to AUD 2.9 billion.

New Zealand – visitors up 5% to 1.1 million and spend up 7% to AUD 2.5 billion.

Singapore – up 6% to 325,000 and spend up 8% to AUD 1.2 billion.

Results for the United Kingdom, however, remain soft with both visitors (631,000) and spend (AUD 3.5 billion) unchanged.

Across all markets, the largest growth occurred for India, boosted by the ICC Cricket World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand during February and March 2015.

NSW was once again named the number one international destination in Australia, with a record 3.3 million international visitors. The state welcomed almost 1.1 million visitors more than either Victoria or Queensland during the last 12 months, it took joy in pointing out.

NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said the latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) results confirmed NSW was still Australia’s number one destination, with international visitation worth almost AUD 7.5 billion to the state’s economy in the year ending March 2015 – an increase of 9% on the previous year.

“NSW is still number one for visitors – there were 3.3 million visitors to our great State in the last year, up 7%. This compares to Victoria and Queensland that both recorded around 2.2 million visitors during the year,” Ayres said.

“Visitors stayed a record total of almost 79 million nights in NSW, compared to 53 million nights in Victoria and 48 million nights in Queensland. We are clearly number one in Australia.”

Queensland Minister for Tourism and Major Events Kate Jones said the record visitor spend represented an 11% increase or AUD 421 million more than compared with the previous year.

“The latest International Visitor Survey revealed 2.2 million international visitors stayed 48.5 million nights in Queensland in the year to March, increases of seven and five% respectively,” Jones said.

She said international travel increased to all Queensland destinations including the Sunshine Coast (up 14%), Whitsundays (up 13%), Tropical North Queensland and Brisbane (up 7%) and Gold Coast (up 6%).

“It’s great to see more international visitors travelling to Queensland, dispersing throughout the State and spending more on their trips,” she said.

“International travel increased across all sectors including holiday, those visiting friends and family, and business related travel.

“Queensland’s top five international markets all recorded increases in visitor spending led by China (up 27% to AUD 767 million), followed by New Zealand (up 11% to AUD 535 million), the UK (up 5% to AUD 458 million), Japan (up 6% to AUD 306 million) and the USA (up 18% to AUD 296 million).”